Up early for a safety briefing and got on our bikes. Did our first ride today, 35kms only, they're breaking us in gently!!!!!! Super hot, loads of sunscreen and insect spray! We visited 3 templates over the course of the day. Exiting and coming back into town was a little daunting on the bikes (bikes are last on the pecking order on the roads here so it's a bit scary!), but the roads are flat and in Palme parts beautifully shaded. At every temple we stopped, explored with our guide and then moved into the next one, stopping for lunch along the way (at a market restaurant that I would not have dared to venture to eat at normally but we trust our guides and your leader. am loving the food, the Fish Amok, a Cambodian favourite, is to die for!
Today we took in the Angkor Wat temple is a UNESCO world heritage site, Angkor Thom and the world famous ruins where Angelina Jolie filmed TombRaider, where the trees have destroyed the temple, with roots growing through the temple ruins. Incredible to explore. Needless to say we are quite bugged, our first cycle was a short one, but spaced out over the whole day, with lots of walking around the 3 temple sites, we were outside in the sun all day. Our guide has been sharing some of the fascinating history of Cambodia, the Khmer Empire, etc. some of the temples we saw date back to the 12th century And alternated over the centuries between being Buddhist or Hindu dominated, depending on who was in charge at the time, so many of the temples have both religions artefacts (Buddha, krishnaa etc) throughout them which is just fascinating!
If you're invested here is some info that Raw Travel shared with us about this area. The Khmer Empire was one of the most prosperous empires in South east Asia and dominated much of what is now Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The Cambodian Kingdom Drew it's religious and political inspiration from India. The literary language was Sanscrit and the spoken language was Khmer. Massive temples from this period, including Angkor Wat and the Bayon at Angkor Thom testify to the power of Angkor and the grandeur of its architecture and decorative art. The unparalleled achievements in art, architecture, music and dance during this period served as models for later cultural development in cambodia. Angkor faded into obscurity after the capital moved South to Phnom Penh in the 15th century, probably due in part to frequent invasions by the neighbouring Thais. The jungle rapidly grew over the monuments, in the centuries that followed, frequen wars reduced the territory, wealth and power of Cambodian monarchs. However an independent state with its capital near Phnom Penh survived until the 19th century.
So now you have a bit of the history!!! theres new pics from today's temple circuit in the Photos section.
